15/04/2014
British Retail Consortium insists the underlying trend on the high street is encouraging, and that April will deliver a bounceback when Easter holiday purchasing figures are compiled
British retailers suffered their sharpest drop in sales for a year in March as the later timing of Easter distorted trading figures, a report from the British Retail Consortium reveals.
The trade group insisted the underlying trend on the high street was encouraging and that April will deliver a bounceback as shoppers pick up their usual Easter holiday purchases such as children's clothes and furniture.
But like-for-like retail sales were down 1.7% this March compared with the same month last year, when retailers benefited from an early Easter. This March's fall was the sharpest annual drop since April 2013.
The BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor showed food was one of the categories to be hit worst by the late Easter with sales down 2.7% in like-for-like terms across January to March. The home category was also dented by the timing of the holidays, the report said. But clothes fared better. Helped by mild weather that coincided with new spring and summer ranges, fashion enjoyed record growth.
The authors of the report said a clearer underlying picture should appear in April, when the Easter distortion is reversed.
"These sales figures are stronger than might have been expected given the fact that Easter has fallen so late this year," said BRC director general Helen Dickinson.
The BRC report echoes the latest retail survey from business group the CBI. Its poll released last month showed retail sales growth slowed in March but that retailers expected a rebound in April.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at the report's co-authors KPMG, said that putting Easter distortions aside, "the overall picture looks encouraging" with three-month average sales growth at 2.1%, just below the 12-month trend of 2.4%.
"There are, however, areas of concern. Food sales fell in like-for-like value again this month and the decision by some of the major grocers to go head to head in a billion pound price war will exacerbate this situation," he said.
Official data from the US on Monday showed retail sales there clocked up the strongest growth for 18 months in March, rising by 1.1% from February.
Fonte: agrodolce.it
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